Floating up into the ship while smuggled underneath the drone, Blake opened up the Store. With the million points at their disposal, there had to be something that could turn the tides against the enemy. Browsing through the various tabs, plenty of options could be chosen. Wide scale magic, one-time use items with massive power, even parts for a fully functional nuclear bomb with the note "some assembly required" were all possible choices. But the idea of spending hundreds of thousands of points for a one-time solution didn't feel appropriate. Not yet at least. Who knew how many ships and personnel there were in this invasion force? If this was just a detachment of a larger force, all the points spent would be gone if an even bigger enemy showed up during the nap.
At this point, Blake wished they weren't the only one with enough power to deal with the current situation. Sure, Tsunis had graciously come along, but the risk of the small water elemental turning into accidental cannon fodder or a noble self-sacrifice was too great. If there were just another version of Blake, the chances of success would be greatly increased. With another tough, magically talented, near indestructible partner in the mix, any plan that risked splitting up could be taken without too much worry.
"Wait, another version of me? The perk!" Blake exclaimed in a flash of realization.
Looking at the perks section, the perk that Blake at looked at before was now available for purchase. Quickly glancing through the description, the mental push of the button drained 100,000 system points in an instant. Shortly after, a notification rang out.
"Perk "Skill Share" has been purchased. Description is provided below.
Allows a participant to connect to the soul of another and share experience with them. This goes both ways.
Eligible connection has been detected. Use perk with Aqua Ray named Tsunis?"
Before activating the perk, Blake asked the Handbook what exactly was meant by "experience".
"Query given. By experience, we mean everything that makes up a person. Aside from skills and perks, levels are grown at an equal rate no matter what. For example, if one person in the bond kills an opponent, the other person gets experience as well. Some may call this cooperation, but others can abuse it for gain without any work. The amount of people who can be part of Skill Share depends on the Participant's overall level. Each additional connection lowers the amount of experience gained."
The short description was what Blake expected. Glancing at the looming hole above, Blake reached out to Tsunis once again before activating the perk.
"Tsunis. What if there was a way to make you as strong as I am? I'm not sure if it would be permanent, if anything bad would happen, if it would hurt, or if it would even work half as well as I'm hoping for. But at this point, you've proven to me that you to want to protect our home at any cost. That's not something that everyone would do. What do you say?��
Trepidation creeped into Blake's voice. Such an expensive skill was bound to have some interesting side effects. But if it meant that they could both survive and tear through the ship with minimal risk, both time and effort would be saved. Blake wasn't sure how much time was left for the world, but it certainly couldn't be long. After a brief pause, the familiar peppy voice answered back.
"Let's do it. You're super strong, and I'm definitely not. Making this box was a good idea, but I don't honestly think it's enough. Go ahead with whatever you were planning. I'm ready."
As Tsunis finished the statement, the drones had entered the ship. Instantly, the duo was surrounded by water. The pressure was extreme as well. Thousands of pounds of pressure pressed down on the two. Blake's stony form wasn't affected at all, yet Tsunis was already grunting in pain. Docking in a wall, the drone had fulfilled its purpose, allowing the pair to drop off and find a place to hide. Blake tried to get Tsunis to scurry over to a corner that was out of the way before they were seen. Yet the pressure was too great for the elemental that was used to shallow water, not hundreds of meters deep. Scooping Tsunis up in the makeshift bucket once again allowed Blake to carry the weak elemental. It seemed that Tsunis would perish before even starting the mission.
"Blake, do it. I feel like I'm about to be crushed to death. I can't help you like this."
"Alright Tsunis. Prepare yourself. Good luck."
The screen to establish the connection was still up. Confirming that only Tsunis would be affected, Blake hit the holographic button mentally. Instantly, Tsunis seemed to get worse. As the perk copied more and more of Blake's status into Tsunis, the poor Aqua Ray started to turn a shade of purple. Like polluted water, the once almost clear form became dyed in a deep amethyst. Tsunis also started to swell. On top of all these changes were the screams of pain that echoed in Blake's mind. Panicking, Blake tried to find a way to stop the process. Reaching a crescendo, Tsunis shrieked a single phrase.
"I CAN TASTE THE UNIVERSE!"
And then promptly exploded.
------
When the first ship had exploded just minutes ago, Commander Bothok was surprised to receive the report. According to the intel, this was a level 0 planet. Barely anything of worth was on the surface. No intelligent lifeforms capable of civilization. Nothing in terms of rare flora or fauna to take. An all together dull planet. Save for one thing. A Magic Source Core.
Magic Source Cores were formed when a planet survived the bombardment of a similarly named meteor. Once the planet fully integrated with the magic, rapid development of the planet would occur. What would normally take billions of years for life to emerge, if it did at all, only took a few centuries for magical life to start growing. Elementals would be birthed by the magic saturating the planet. They in turn would stir up the surface of the world, accelerating the natural cycle of a world. The chaotic fire, water, earth, and air cycles would rapidly turn from one to another before reaching the order phase. Once there, biological life would mold with the magic of a planet, creating a variety of powerful life forms.
All of this was originally just theory. But once the Squitopus race started to explore the cosmos, this theory was proven to be correct. Of the countless worlds and galaxies in the universe, the space-faring, octopus-like creatures had only scratched a small portion of the local cluster. Their creed was to find new planets for an ever-growing population. But as the octopi jumped from world to world, it was obvious that their home world was more unique than initially expected. Not many places had the requirements for the species fragile biology.
Coming from a planet completely covered in water, the Squitopus race evolved from deep in the trenches of the ocean. Warm volcanic vents provided nutrients and kept the chill of the surrounding water out. The species was lucky enough to have the ends of their tentacles split into two, hardened bendable claws. With the addition of 16 "fingers", the already intelligent octopi managed to grab and create tools from the surrounding rocks to hunt predators. Once they were able to make weapons to hunt, the rest happened quickly. Volcanic flows allowed for metal forging, while magic could allow them to compensate for any shortcomings they had. Soon, the squishy weak beings became the planets super predator. But only in the trenches. Without the pressure of the ocean to hold them together, any attempts to colonize outside of a certain depth cost too much. Not to mention how easy it was to die.
On top of this weak constitution, the reproductive rate of the Squitopus race was their biggest Achilles heel. A single female could have hundreds of viable children. The sheer amount of offspring thwarted all efforts to curb the explosive population growth. Limiting who got pregnant, culling children through various games and tournaments, even resorting to cannibalism couldn't stop overcrowding and draining of limited resources. So, they took to the stars.
When Bothok became commander, he knew that his team was meant to be expendable. Although the scientists managed to eliminate many variables, every time was essentially a shot out into space with the assumption of no return. Even the ships were designed to be a one way trip for a majority of the crew. Only if something of value was found could a skeleton crew of 5 be allowed to return. If those who returned had lied, they would be killed. Otherwise, they would be rewarded with the most lavish of lifestyles and be allowed to sire one clutch with a chosen female. Any consortium of stellar explores would be more than worthy to pass on their genetic material. So when the scanners had detected a world with a virtually undefended Magic Source Core. This meant that the world could be harvested for fuel for a return trip as well as towing the core behind back home.
Magic Source Cores could turn a colony into a permanent home planet. Or, if the discovered planet was miraculously habitable, a gate would be set up for new colonization efforts. Either way, the crew's effort would result in a whole new world for billions to live on. Their names would be etched into history forever.
So when the report came in that one of the collector ships had gone down, Bothok frowned. In a guttural voice, he asked the quivering soldier.
"What in the world is risking this mission's success?"
"R-r-rocks, sir" squeaked the poor octopus. "Big, big rocks."